Ballet toe skate



Nov. 28, 1961 H. G. CORRELL BALLET TOE SKATE Filed June 10, 1960 IN V EN TOR. HAROLD G. COR RELL United States Patent BALLET TOE SKATE Harold G. Correll, Hardin, Mo., assignor of one-tenth to Gadget-Of-The-Month Club, Inc., North Hollywood, Calif., a corporation of California Filed June 10, 1960, Ser. No. 35,335 Claims. (Cl. 280-1124) The present invention consists of a ballet toe skate which requires that a skaters weightbe symmetrically balanced with respect to skates, each of which has only a single roller or wheel means positioned under the ball of the corresponding foot. It will be understood that this requires a substantially greater degree of agility, skill, and foot, ankle, and leg strength and stamina for successful operation than is required during the use of conventional prior art multi-roller skates. Therefore, it is a definite challenge to acrobatic skill and, for this purpose, the skates of the present invention are greatly superior to conventional skates. In other words, the skates of the present invention place much greater emphasis on the skill and balance of the skater than is true when prior art conventional four-wheeled roller skates are employed.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a ballet toe skate of the character referred to above, which is of extremely simple, cheap, foolproof construction such as to be conducive to widespread use thereof.

Further objects will be apparent to persons skilled in the art after a careful study hereof.

For the purpose of clarifying the nature of the present invention, two exemplary embodiments are illustrated in the hereinbelow-described figures of the accompanying single drawing sheet and are described in detail hereinafter.

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of one illustrative embodiment of the present invention shown in mounted operative relationship with respect to a skaters shoe, it being understood that the other ballet toe skate and attached skaters shoe are substantially identical although reversed so as to be suitable to be worn on the other foot of a skater.

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view taken in the direction of the arrows 2-2 of FIG. 1 with the rear portion of the skating shoe broken away for drawing simplification purposes.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken in the direction of the arrows 33 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken in the direction of the arrows 44 of FIG. 2 with the toe and ballof-the-foot port-ion of the skaters shoe normally fastened thereabove removed for drawing simplification reasons.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view taken in the direction of the arrows 55 of FIG. 1 illustrating a non-skid resilient pad carried by the heel portion of the shoe.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken in the direction of the arrows 66 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary view similar to the left upper portion of FIG. 3, but illustrating a slight modification of the invention wherein the sole plate is mechanically fastened to the corresponding toe and ball-of-the-foot portion of the shoe by rivets rather than welding as employed for such fastening purposes in the first form of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 1-6.

Referring to FIGS. 1-6 for exemplary purposes, one illustrative embodiment of the invention takes a typical exemplary form wherein it comprises a typical skaters shoe, indicated generally at 10, having a toe and ball-ofthefoot sole portion 11 provided with and carrying a correspondingly shaped substantially flat sole plate 12 immediately thereunder. It should be noted that the sole plate 12 is preferably made of metal fastened to the toe and ball-of-the-foot sole portion 11 of the shoe 10 by suitable fastening means, which, in the first form of the example illustrated in FIGS. l-6, comprises welding although various other fastening means may be employed. This is made possible by reason of the fact that the toe and ball-of-the-foot sole portion 11 of the shoe 10 includes a metallic plate at the bottom thereof, which is indicated by the reference numeral 11 and which can readily be welded to the sole plate 12 whereby to provide a firmly fastened assemblyof shoe and sole plate.

The sole'plate 12 is provided with integral, transversely spaced, vertically downwardly directed side support portions 13, which have transversely aligned shaft receiving aperture means 14 at the bottom ends thereof removably carrying immediately thereunder shaft-fastening strap means 15. It should be noted that each of the shaft fasteningstrap means 15 is fastened by suitable threaded'fastener means 16 to the lower ends of each of the side support portions 13 in a manner receiving and firmly mounting the transverse shaft means 17 extending across and between the lower ends of the side support portions 13.

The transverse shaft means 17 carries roller means or wheel means, indicated generally at 18, centrally thereon for rotation in a substantially vertical plane equidistant from and between the -side support portions 13 and with the lowermost part of the roller or wheel means 18 extending below the lowermost level of the side support portions 13 and the underlying fastening strap means 15 for unobstructed rolling engagement with an underlying fiat supporting surface, such as is indicated at 19 in FIG. 1. The roller or wheel means 18 is provided with ball or roller bearing means 20 for facilitating free rolling movement of the wheel means 18. The entire assembly of wheel means 18 and ball bearing means 20 and encompassing sleeves is effectively centrally mounted on the transverse shaft 17 by positioning and retaining means comprising retaining rings 21 carried in corresponding grooves 22 around the shaft 17.

The present invention also may include elastomeric block means 23 positioned within and filling the interior space between the transversely spaced side support portions and being provided with an arcuate central cutout 24 which allows clearance for the roller or wheel means 18 to rotate therethrough. This provides a very resilient overall structure for the ballet toe skate and improves the characteristics thereof substantially by minimizing, inhibiting and/ or damping out undesirable vibrations, and the like.

One preferred form of the present invention may also be provided with non-skid resilient pad means, such as indicated at 25, carried by a heel portion 26 of the shoe 10. In the specific form illustrated, the resilient pad 25 is fastened to the heel portion 26 by a recessed fastening screw 27, which is so deeply recessed and countersunk that it will never come into contact with an underlying ground surface, such as is shown in FIG. 1 at 19, during use of the non-skid resilient pad means as a heel stop.

FIG. 7 illustrates a slight modification wherein the sole plate 12' carries an auxiliary metallic member 28, which is effectively riveted by a plurality of rivets 29 to the toe and ball-of-thefoot portion 11' of the shoe. In other words, this merely comprises another means for attachment of the ballet toe skate to a skaters shoe. In this connection, it should be noted that the invention contemplates various other means for attachment including clamps, straps, and virtually any type of means for convenient and'effective attachment of the sole plate of the shoe.

It should be understood that the figures and the specific description thereof set forth in this application are for the purpose of illustrating the present invention and. are not to be construed as limiting the present invention to the precise and detailed specific structure shown in'the figures and specifically described hereinbefore. Rather, the real invention is intended to include substantially equivalent constructions embodying the basic teachings and inventive concept of the present invention.

I claim:

1. A ballet toe skate, comprising: a shoe having a toe and ball-of-the-foot sole portion provided with and carrying a correspondingly shaped substantially flat sole plate, said sole plate being provided withintegral transversely spaced, vertically downwardly directed side support portions having transversely aligned shaft-receiving means and being provided with similar controllably removable shaft-fastening strap means thereunder; transverse shaft means r'emovably carried within said shaft 'recei'v'ing means and held in such position by said shaft-fastening strap means; roller wheel means 'rotata'bl'y centrally carried on said transverse shaft means for rotation in a vertical plane, said roller wheel means extending below the lowermost level of said side su port portions and shaft-fastening strap means for rolling engagementwith an underlying fiat supporting surface; ball bearing means interposed between said roller wheel means and the central portion of said transverse 'sh'aft means carrying "same; positioning and retaining means cooperable with said roller wheel means and said transverse shaftmeans for centrally positioning said roller wheel means thereon; and elastomeric block means positioned within and filling the interior space between said transversely spaced side support portions and having an arcuate central cutout providing vertical clearance for saidroller wheel means to rotate therethrough.

2. A skate of the character defined in claim 1, including mechanical fastening means fixedly fastening said sole plate to said toe and ball-of-the-foot portion of said shoe.

3. A skate of the characterdefined in ,claim 1, including mechanical fastening means including weld means fixedly fastening said sole plate to said toe and ball-of-thefoot portion of said shoe. 7

4. A skate of the character defined in claim 1, including mechanical fastening means including rivet means fixedly fastening said sole plate to said toe and ball-ofthe-foot portion of said shoe.

' S. A skate of the character defined in claim 1, wherein said shoe is provided with a heel portion and non-skid resilient pad means carried thereby.

7 References Cited in the file of this patent V UNITED STATES PATENTS Great Britain Feb, 27, 1913 

